Nail puller



0. HUSA Get. 4, 1955 NAIL FULLER Filed June 27, 1952 INVENTOR. (1 421:,A. I-IwsA M02 Um/M471 ATTOENEYJ BY man ffl I ill;

United States Patent NAIL PULLER Y Carl A. Husa, Oakland, Calif.Application June 27, 1952, Serial No. 296,029

1 Claim. (Cl. 254-24) This invention relates to hand tools, and moreparticularly, has reference to a tool specifically adapted to facilitatethe extraction of nails and like objects from surfaces in which they aredeeply embedded.

In most instances, a claw hammer or similar toolis entirely sutficientfor the purpose of pulling nails. However, on some occasions, a clawhammer is inadequate to accomplish the desired extraction of the nail,due to the fact that the nail is embedded too deeply within the wood.

The present invention is intended specifically for extracting nailswhich resist pulling by a conventional claw hammer or like tool, and isparticularly useful in pulling nails from unfinished lumber.

In carrying out the invention, I provide a construction which includesan elongated lever shaped to provide a handle. A head at one end of thelever is of rightangled formation, one leg of the head being rigidlysecured to the lever to provide a fulcrum about which the lever may berocked during extraction of the nail. The other leg of the head isspaced closely from the adjacent end of the handle. A wedging plate ismounted to slide within the space between said other leg andlever andhas a pair of claw members engageable under the head of the nail to bepulled. The sliding of the plate is for the purpose of permitting it tobe driven into position adjacent the nail. After being properlypositioned, the claw members are adapted to be cammed toward one anotherby adjacent portions of the head to grip the nail, after which theentire device is rocked bodily to pull the nail.

The main object of the invention, as noted above, is to provide agenerally improved nail puller that will permit the speedy and easyextraction of nails in circumstances in which a claw hammer or the likeis inadequate.

More specific objects of the invention are to provide a nail puller thatwill be capable of being manufactured at relatively low cost; will berugged; and simple and compact in design.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claimappended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several views, andwherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a nail puller formed inaccordance with the invention, a portion of the handle being brokenaway;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view, the device being shown on a smallerscale;

Figure 3 is an end elevation, taken from the left of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the head end of the tool,taken on line 4-4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the tool as it appears when in use.

Referring to the drawings in detail, I provide an elongated, tubularlever adaptedto be gripped as a handle and having for this purpose, atits outer end, a hand grip 11. The inner end portion of the lever 10 isflattened as at 12, and is formed with a fiat end surface 14 on eitherside of which lugs 16 are secured rigidly to the flattened lever portion10, said lugs extending outwardly of the portion 12 and having flatfaces flush with the flat right angles to each other. The leg 24,.shownin bottom plan Figure 2, extends in parallelism with the. longitudinalcenter line of the lever 10,.and provides, along its forwardlydisposedor outer edge (seen as the left hand. edge thereof in Figure 2)a fulcrum about which the device is rocked during extraction of nails.

The leg 26 is disposed transversely of. thelever in closely spaced,parallel relation to the flat end surface 14. To reduce cutting of thewood to a minimum, the several edges of said leg 26 are preferablybeveled as at 28, and the outer face of the leg 26 has a sloped part 30,to facilitate rocking of the device during the later stages of therocking movement thereof. The back face 32 of the leg 26 is wholly flatand lies in a plane parallel to that of the fiat end surface 14.

Formed in the leg 24 is a slot 34, closed at its opposite ends andextending transversely of the lever, in registry with the space betweenleg 26 and end surface 14. A wedging plate, designated generally at 36,is loosely slidable Within the slot 34, and has a flat, wide body 38extending within and substantially filling the space between the flatsurfaces 14, 32.

In the body 38 I provide a large, circular opening 40, with whichcommunicates one end of an elongated slot 42 extending longitudinallyand centrally of the body and opening at one end thereof, to define apair of elongated, parallel claw members 44. The claw members 44 havesharpened or beveled inner longitudinal edges 46, and at their free endsare formed with tapered, nail-head-engaging claws 48.

The outer longitudinal edges of the claw members are curved to providecam surfaces 50 engageable by the respective ends of the closed slot 34.

In use, the device is first positioned with its claws 48 arrangedadjacent a nail N to be pulled. A hammer or similar tool, not shown, isthen applied to that end edge of the wedging plate 36 that is remotefrom the claws 48, to drive the claws into position under the head ofthe nail.

As a next step, the hammer is struck lightly against that longitudinaledge of the flattened lever portion 12 that is remote from theprojection 18, and this will cause the edges of the closed slot 34 toshift into camming engagement with the curved outer longitudinal edgesof the claw members 44. As a result, the claw members will be cammedinwardly toward each other, into gripping engagement with the shank ofthe deeply embedded nail. This causes a tight grip to be obtained uponthe nail.

The lever 10 is then gripped, and rocked counterclockwise in Figure 5,thus to cause joint rocking movement of the lever, head, and wedgingplate. In this way, the nail is extracted from the surface in which itis embedded.

It is believed that the important functional characteristics andadvantages of the device will be apparent from the descriptionhereinbefore provided. However, it is thought worthy of special notethat in addition to those advantages that are self-evident, theconstruction is particularly adapted for pulling nails from boards evenafter the head of the nail has been destroyed.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confinedto the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may beutilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is theinvention. to be necessarily limited to the specific constructionillustrated and described, since such construction is only intended tobe illustrative of the principles of operation and the means presentlydevised to carry out said principles, it. being considered that theinvention comprehends any minor change in construction that may bepermitted within the scope'of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

"In a' tool for pulling nails and like objects, a lever having on oneend a flat surface, a head having a portion extending longitudinallyalong and secured to the side of said lever with a part projectingbeyond and spaced from the flattened end surface of said lever andhaving another portion projecting at a right angle from the free end ofsaid part, there being a closed slot in said part extending transverselyof said lever, a flat wedge-shaped 20 plate disposed between saidanother head portion and the flattened end surface of said head andremovably and slidably mounted in said slot to shift transversely of the7 4 handle into a position in which said plate is wedged within'the slotand thus made rigid with the handle and head, said plate being formedintegrally with side by side claw members resiliently connected to oneanother at one of their ends, for movement of the other ends of saidclaw members toward and away from each other, said claw members havingouter side edges disposed obliquely to the line of movement of theplate, said outer side edges being engageable byopposite end portions ofsaid slot on movement of the plate to the wedged position thereof,whereby to bias-the claw members toward one another into grippingengagement with anail to be pulled.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 72,655Marden Dec. 24, 1867 652,002 Kincaid June 19, 1900 669,906 Thompson Mar.12, 1901 693,779 'Brassington Feb. 18, 1902 735,268 Keehme Aug. 4, 19031,292,886 Rolston Jan. 28, 1919 1,405,339 Schoonover Ian. 31, 1922

